Housing Counsellor: Warren Canney
Weytk!
"Weytk" is the traditional greeting in the Secwepemc
language.
Warren is the Housing Counsellor at the Aboriginal Housing
Support Centre. He graduated from Seneca College in 1976 with
an Honours Diploma in Applied Communications. After working
at CBC television for 5 years, he headed out West to British
Columbia where he purchased a parcel of land and built his
own house overlooking beautiful Shuswap Lake.
Warren developed his counselling skills over the 18 years
that he lived in the Interior of British Columbia. He created
a Sexual Abuse Support Group program for abused children and
youth and subsequently co-authored a comprehensive training
manual designed for Sexual Abuse Program Practitioners and
commissioned by the Mental Health Services of B.C. He went
on to be the District Special Counsellor for a school district
for close to 10 years. He also worked under contract for a
number of other agencies as a Trainer and as a front-line
worker. The most notable being the Elizabeth Fry Society where
he worked as a Child, Youth and Family Counsellor as well
as a Men's Group Co-Facilitator running weekly sessions for
men charged with spousal assault.
Warren has two adopted children, both of whom are Aboriginal
(Corrin is Métis and David is Cree). Corrin and David
have children of their own now and continue to live in the
West. Warren made a decision to move back East in 1999 when
one of his parents took ill, and subsequently passed away
a few years later.
While in B.C., Warren worked on 10 of the 17 Shuswap (Secwepemc)
First Nations' Reserves and took language courses in order
to better speak Secwepemctsin. The families of the Canoe Creek/Dog
Creek Indian Band, in particular, are very dear to Warren's
heart after having spent so much time in their remote community.
Warren was born and raised in Toronto and although he is
back "home", he very much misses the family and
friends that he left behind out West. Re-connecting with the
Aboriginal Community, through Wigwamen, helps bridge both
of his "worlds" and working for the Aboriginal Housing
Support Centre feels like a natural transition for him.
"Putucw!" (Good bye)
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